‘They’ve had to suction her a lot today. I don’t know what the problem is, but you can’t imagine what it’s like to watch her try to cough and not make a sound because of that awful tube in her throat. She only made it five minutes off the ventilator today.’

‘Does she know what day it is?’

‘Oh yes,’ Dorothy said ominously. ‘Oh yes indeed. I put a little tree on her table. She’s been crying a lot.’

A dull ache welled in my chest.

‘When are you getting here?’ she went on.

‘I don’t know. We can’t leave New York right now.’

‘Does it ever strike you, Katie, that you’ve spent most of your life worrying about dead people?’ Her voice was getting sharp. ‘I think all your relationships are with dead-‘

‘Dorothy, you tell Mother I love her and that I called. Please tell Lucy and Janet that I’ll try again later tonight or tomorrow.’

I hung up.

Wesley was still standing before the window with his back to me. He was quite familiar with my family difficulties.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said kindly.

‘She would be like that even if I were there.’

‘I know. But the point is, you should be there and I should be home.’

When he talked about home I got uncomfortable, because his home and mine were different. I thought again about this case, and when I closed my eyes I saw the woman who looked like a manikin without clothing or wig. I envisioned her awful wounds.

I said, ‘Benton, who is he really killing when he kills these people?’

‘Himself,’ he said. ‘Gault is killing himself.’

‘That can’t be all of it.’

‘No, but it is part of it.’

‘It’s a sport to him,’ I said.

‘That, too, is true.’

‘What about his family? Do we know anything more?’

‘No.’ He did not turn around. ‘Mother and father are healthy and in Beaufort, South Carolina.’

‘They moved from Albany?’

‘Remember the flood.’

‘Oh yes. The storm.’

‘South Georgia was almost washed away. Apparently the Gaults left and are in Beaufort now. I think they’re also looking for privacy.’

‘I can only imagine.’

‘Right. Tour buses were rolling past their house in Georgia. Reporters were knocking on their door. They will not cooperate with the authorities. As you know, I have repeatedly requested interviews and have been denied.’

‘I wish we knew more about his childhood,’ I said.

‘He grew up on the family plantation, which was basically a big white frame house set on hundreds of acres of pecan trees. Nearby was the factory that made nut logs and other candies you see in truck stops and restaurants, mostly in the South. As for what went on inside that house while Gault lived there, we don’t know.’

‘And his sister?’